When History wasn't in their Favor
by JoMiSm
Summary: ...Hydra changed it. This is about Natasha, Tony, and that THING that involves Tony that I won't mention because of spoilers. This is after Captain America Two. :D


_**Oh my God. I remembered this today, April 5, the day after Captain America 2 premiered. I watched it yesterday and I was so blown away that I forgot this little thing... this little thing that is so huge, so so huge... (well, that author's note was written April 5).**_

_**ELEKAT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! NO! DON'T READ THIS FIC YET! WAIT UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE, DUDE, THIS HAS MAJOR SPOILERS! That goes for the rest of you people looking for spoilers, too. YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS TO THIS MOVIE. It is better to experience it firsthand.**_

_**ELEKAT! STOP IGNORING MY SPOILER ALERTS! DON'T DO IT, MAN! I HAVE POSSE! I WILL NOT HESITATE TO HURT THIS PANDA. **_

_**SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS YOU DO NOT WANT THESE SPOILERS I PROMISE!**_

* * *

It was only a few days after the huge events of the battle between Hydra and SHIELD, two sides of the same coin, but Natasha had already fallen back into her same routine. She went back to Stark Tower (very discreetly, of course) and was in the middle of setting up new aliases and such for herself. She could no longer use Natalie Rushman or Nancy Rushman or Natalia Romanova or even Natasha Romanoff, her American Alias that had become her legal name, without people knowing who she was. That was downright annoying.

Tony, of course, graciously let her use his tower, as usual. He noticed, however, that she'd grown more distant. He'd tried to be nice to her, consoling, even, about this new and HUGE change in her life (the super secret spy was suddenly trending on Twitter) but she was very distant. Their conversations usually went something like:

Tony: Hey, Nattie, how ya doing today?

Natasha: Fine.

Tony: Well, do you want to-

Natasha: *looks down* No, I'm busy. *pushes past him and walks away*

It was getting downright annoying. Tony had, at first, assumed that it was because her partner was away on a mission. He had no news of what had happened until his handler had tried to kill him on the way back; it was only then that he learned of the director's "death," Hydra's infiltration... and SHIELD's falling.

Clint Barton was no longer Clint Barton, level seven Agent of SHIELD.

Natasha Romanoff was no longer Natasha Romanoff, level seven Agent of SHIELD.

No one was an agent of SHIELD. SHIELD no longer existed.

It was a scary thought, another thing that Tony thought might be bothering Natasha, but Clint had made it back alive and Natasha showed no anxiety specifically about SHIELD. (Tony still had no doubt that she was reeling from the fall of the giant.) So what was bothering her that had to do with Tony? Natasha would talk to Pepper and Bruce and Thor, when he stopped by. Steve had gone somewhere unknown, but Tony was willing to bet that she'd talk to him, too. What was wrong with Tony? I mean, she'd never really _liked _him, but she didn't hate him, either.

It would take some intense spying of his own. Time to go to work.

He started with trying to listen in to her conversations with Clint, seeing if she'd open up to him. She didn't, however, tell him any secrets, and Tony soon realized that it was because she knew that her conversations were being watched. Time for plan B.

He waited about a day and then made his move. "Jarvis," He said, when he was well and truly alone. "Record Agent-I mean, Miss Romanoff for any unusual behavior regarding me."

He checked one day later. Nothing.

Two days. Nothing.

Three days. Nothing.

Four days. Nothing.

Five days-Tony almost didn't check, after having four days of absolutely no information, but he was glad he did when he heard just one sentence.

"I wish... I wish I didn't know the truth about Howard." Natasha had murmured to Clint. They'd been sitting on the couch in her room, her head resting on his shoulder and idly toying with the silver arrow necklace around her throat.

"I know the feeling." Clint had said. They'd lapsed into silence, infuriating silence, but Tony knew _enough. _He knew what the topic was, and _yes, _true to his suspicions, it had involved him.

He went to the leaked SHIELD content all over the internet, which the governments of the world were having a hard time cleaning up. So many people had reshared the information that Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest had to be shut down temporarily. Though he used every resource at his disposal, he found no new information about his father, none at all. He didn't even bother with trying to keep his discovery a secret after that. He decided that it was best to find out from the Widow herself.

* * *

It weighed on her heart heavily.

Howard had been murdered.

A small detail at the time that she'd found out about it, really, but Tony'd lived his whole life believing that it was a freak event, believing that, though his father was a man of many enemies, he had died due to a car accident. Tony deserved to know, he really did, but Natasha knew that bringing this up wasn't a good idea. Tony could explode in anger and try to go after Hydra all on his own or Tony could feel the pain of losing his father, however bad of a father he was, all over again. Natasha didn't want to do that to him. She kept her silence.

That was, until Tony confronted her about it.

"What do you know about my father?" He asked her. They were in the living room together in pretty much silence and he just brought it up.

Natasha's heart skipped a beat at the suddenness... she'd been avoiding his company because she'd been avoiding his questions. She'd promised herself that if he ever _asked, _he had every right in the world to know... so now she was checkmated.

"Tony," she said, her face serene. "You don't want to know."

Every time she'd ever told him that, she'd been right in the end. It was a scary thought, but still... what he didn't know usually did end up hurting him. (Like the fact that the model of the Expo was an element. Or the fact that Stane was a backstabber. Both of those would have been good to know.)

"Natasha," Tony said, matching her seriousness. "Yes, I do." Natasha stood and Tony stood with her, following anxiously when she walked a little ways away. "Natasha." he said again when she did not reply for a moment.

"You have to understand-" Natasha started, trying to break it to him gently.

"Just tell me!" Tony said. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

She turned to him, her green eyes flashing with something like reluctance. "Tony, your father... It wasn't a car accident." Her voice lowered and so did her eyes. "He was murdered."

Tony's mind is faster than the average humans, hence the term 'genius' in his list of titles. His mind went through something along the lines of _Dad... was murdered... and Natasha knew about it (for God-knows-how-long) so it had to be- _"SHIELD MURDERED MY FATHER AND YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU SHOULD TELL ME?!" Tony yelled, enraged and pinning Natasha against the wall in an amateurish yet effective chokehold. She didn't even protest, though she could have easily avoided this situation.

"Tony-" She tried to sound rational, but her voice was thick with the struggle to breath.

"Save it." he growled. "Don't try to tell me lies about your stupid precious agency-_it's_ _dead now!"_ He shouted. Natasha winced - she was fully aware of that fact; she was instrumental in making SHIELD public. "You're just lying for the sake of lies."

"Tony," Natasha tried to say; it was difficult to speak as Tony was still trying to choke her, and though he wasn't by any means a pro, it _was _gradually getting harder to breathe. She could've fought back, but his anger was righteous and she felt that she, herself, would be a better catalyst for his anger than someone else. "It - It wasn't-" She made an involuntary choked noise. Still, she didn't fight back.

He wasn't listening to her reasoning; he was on the verge of hysterical laughter. "And I _actually thought _I could trust you! And I'll tell you, Agent Romanoff-Romanova-Rushman-_Whatever-the-heck-your-name-is, _you certainly had us all fooled. I wouldn't be surprised if _you _were Hydra, too-"

There was no warning besides a whisper-quiet bowstring being pulled back. A quiet, steely voice came from behind Tony. "_Get your hands _off _my partner._" Clint growled. He had just watched his entire world fall apart. He was on edge. He would not stand for someone threatening his last link to reality.

Tony moved back almost mechanically, Natasha slumping to her knees.

"What were you doing, Stark?" It was more a statement than a question from Clint.

"She was lying." Stark said without hesitation.

"She was trying to tell you the _truth_ - you just wouldn't stop to listen." Clint replied immediately.

Tony turned to glare down at Natasha, who'd made no move to stand. "And what was your explanation?" Tony asked.

Natasha's gaze was directed, unfocused, at the floor. "It wasn't SHIELD." Natasha murmured. "It was Hydra who set it up to protect themselves - SHIELD didn't know either, Tony, or I would have told you as soon as I knew." She looked up at him. "Believe me, please."

A long, long moment passed when their eyes met. Tony silently turned and slowly walked away.

* * *

You see, this is what Hydra _does. _They destroy friendships, hard earned trust, entire lives...

But, I suppose, that is their plan.

* * *

**_I might be a bit off with Tony's reaction, but then again, this is wartime and everyone's been through a lot and Natasha feels guilty for always being the bad guy, even when she thinks she's doing right, so she lets Tony take out his anger on her- it didn't really hurt her, other than his words, so don't sound off in the comments bout Tony's treatment, either. She was capable of defending herself. She chose not to._**

**_I love you._**

_**ELEKAT! DID YOU READ THIS?! SPOILERS DUDE SPOILERS! Darn it, El!**_

**_-JoMiSm_**


End file.
